State Stix

General funds

In May the general funds end-of-month balance was $248.704 million. This balance was possible only because the state did not pay $654 million in bills. This balance was inflated by $192.7 million set aside to repay on June 15 money borrowed in August.

Source: Office of the Comptroller.

Record labor force

In May the nation's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.5 percent, an increase of 0.3 percentage points since April and the highest it has been since August 1984. Illinois' seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.0 percent, up from 7.9 percent in April. Among the 11 most populous states, Illinois ranked fifth in unemployment. The state's May labor force set an all-time record of 6.179 million people, 135,000 more than in April and 75,000 more than in May 1991; 5.682 million Illinoisans had jobs, up 113,000 from April and 61,000 from May 1991; 497,000 people were unemployed, 21,000 more than in April and 14,000 over May 1991.

Source: Department of Employment Security.

Metro area unemployment

In April the unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) in the state's metro areas were:

Aurora-Elgin PMSA (Kane and Kendall counties), 8.4 percent, down 0.8 percent from March.

Bloomington-Normal MSA (McLean County), 5.0 percent, down 0.1 percent.

Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul MSA (Champaign County), 4.6 percent, down 0.3 percent.

Chicago PMSA (Cook, DuPage and McHenry counties), 7.7 percent, down 0.1 percent.

Davenport-Rock Island-Moline MSA, Illinois portion (Henry and Rock Island counties), 10.1 percent, up 1.4 percent.

Decatur MSA (Macon County), 9.5 percent, down 0.2 percent.

Joliet PMSA (Grundy and Will counties), 8.9 percent, down 0.7 percent.

Kankakee MSA (Kankakee County), 9.1 percent, down 0.6 percent.

Lake County PMSA, 5.1 percent, down 0.5 percent.

Peoria MSA (Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties), 7.7 percent, down 0.4 percent.

Rockford MSA (Boone and Winnebago counties), 9.2 percent, down 1.5 percent.

Springfield MSA (Menard and Sangamon counties), 5.5 percent, down 0.4 percent.

St. Louis MSA, Illinois portion (Clinton, Jersey, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties), 8.3 percent, down 0.6 percent.

Source: Same as above.